Chapters 13 and 14 Summary

Sutherland points southwest and returns to the rendezvous station—but as Hornblower does not yet fancy his personal cruise of glory completed, he contrives to pass the rendezvous point at the dead of night and so misses the other ships. By first light he has passed beyond visual contact and cruises the Catalan coast. At a small town called Arens de Mar a boat puts off from shore and rows toward the English ship-of-the-line. As it poses no credible threat Hornblower allows it to close within hailing distance. Its occupant proves to be Colonel José Gonzales de Villena y Danvila, of His Most Catholic Majesty's Olivenza Hussars. Villena is a loyalist officer who resists the French occupation of Spain. Under Hornblower's close questioning, Villena admits that his regiment engaged an Italian army at Tordera, as the Italians marched from Gerona...